Enemy Chatter: The Celtics are a lethal basketball fist

I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers
are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics. Here's a dose
of 'enemy chatter' from Toronto.

The Celtics have five standout starters, a lethal basketball fist.

Last night, against the visiting Raptors, the Celtics’ fist was
without three of its fingers in point guard Rajon Rondo and forwards
Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

But the two remaining fingers, forwards Ray Allen and Rasheed
Wallace, provided enough leadership and scoring to guide the home side
to a 103-96 victory in a foul-filled game at the TD Garden, and snap
the Raptors’ five-game win streak.

Buffrey should have taken his analogy one step further and anointed Rasheed the middle finger.

But the starting shooting guard said that he will gain a lot from
the experience, particularly the experience of guarding nine-time NBA
all-star Ray Allen, who burned the Raptors for 23 points, along with
four assists and two steals.

"He never stops," said DeRozan, who picked up four fouls in the
game, three in the first five minutes. "He doesn't play the ball, he
plays you. He just sets you up to get you in his comfort zone."

On Page 2, some reaction from the Raptors Republic and Raptors HQ blogs.

Banks – there was probably a 50/50 split when he
hoisted that three late in the fourth as it relates to people hoping
for the best and others wanting to throw him in a fire as soon as he
released it. Forgive me, but I actually thought he was going to nail
it. He was in a rhythm, his head was in the game, his stutter step was
nice….then he hit the top of the backboard. Pretty much summed up the
game.

No matter who is on the court for the Celtics they never allow a
shot to go unchallenged, each player is willing to hit the floor for a
lose ball, and every player is ready to give a hard foul.

For the Raps? Not so much.

All game I was waiting to see the Raps seize the moment and step up.
All game I was left disappointed and in awe of the Celtics ability to
withstand the Raps efforts. Although the Celtics were missing their
intimidators, they didn't miss a beat in terms of how they play.

"We have to learn to play like they do," said coach Jay Triano after
the Raptors had their season-high five-game winning streak snapped.
"That's where you play that hard of defence and not have fouls called
against you.

"They play hard defence and they had one foul called against them in the fourth quarter. We have to learn how to do that."

There
is an art to being physical — overly physical at times — and getting
away with it and the Celtics, who were led by 23 points from Ray Allen,
16 from Rasheed Wallace and 14 from Kendrick Perkins, seem to have
mastered it.